16 juillet 2025 – Mercredi de la 15^ème semaine impaire

Ex 3, 1-6. 9-12; Mt 11, 25-27 

HOMÉLIE

L'Évangile que nous venons de lire (et qui forme un tout avec celui que nous lirons demain) comprend quelques points de contact avec le Magnificat de la Vierge Marie, qui sont très intéressants et extrêmement révélateurs.

15 juillet 2025, mardi de la 15^ème semaine, année impaire

Ex 2, 1-15; Mt 11, 20-24

H o m é l i e

            Les textes de cette Eucharistie nous parlent de faiblesse et de puissance – de la faiblesse des hommes et de la puissance de Dieu. Dans la première lecture, tirée du Livre de l’Exode, nous voyons la faiblesse du peuple juif au sein de l’empire égyptien, en particulier la faiblesse de Moïse encore bébé déposé dans un panier posé sur les eaux du Nil, et la puissance avec laquelle Dieu libérera son peuple d’Égypte par le ministère de Moïse.

          D’habitude Jésus prononce des bénédictions, que nous appelons des « béatitudes » (Bienheureux les pauvres, bienheureux les doux, bienheureux les artisans de paix, etc.) Dans le bref texte d’Évangile que nous venons d’entendre, Jésus prononce non pas des bénédictions mais des malédictions : « Malheureuse es-tu, Chorazin ! Malheureuse es-tu, Bethsaïda... etc.) Quelle est l’attitude qui provoque une telle réaction chez Jésus. Il s’agit de l’aveuglement et plus précisément de l’aveuglement volontaire, qui refuse de voir ce qui est évident.

          Il s’agit de deux villes de Galilée où Jésus avait opéré de nombreux miracles et fait des guérisons. Les gens de la ville ont évidemment profité de ces miracles et de ces guérisons, mais ils n’ont pas reçu le message de Jésus appelant à la conversion. C’est qu’ils n’ont pas su interpréter ce qui se passait. Ils auraient dû reconnaître que celui qui opérait de tels signes venait de Dieu et que sa Parole devait donc être reçue comme Parole de Dieu. Et s’ils n’ont pas analysé les événements pour en percevoir le sens, c’était sans doute parce qu’ils ne se sentaient pas capables d’en accepter les conséquences.

          À nous aussi Dieu parle à travers les personnes et les événements. Souvent nous préférons ne pas écouter de peur d’entendre un message qui nous dérange trop. Évidemment si un ange du ciel nous apparaissait pour nous indiquer la volonté de Dieu sur nous, nous l’écouterions et nous lui obéirions. Mais Dieu nous parle ordinairement à travers les événements de tous les jours. Si nous omettons souvent de faire l’effort d’analyser et d’interpréter ces événements, c’est probablement que nous percevons plus ou moins inconsciemment qu’ils peuvent comporter pour nous un message trop dérangeant. Ce qui nous manque la plupart du temps, ce n’est pas la foi ; c’est le courage d’opérer la conversion requise par notre foi.

          Demandons la grâce de l’écoute et du discernement et le courage de mettre en pratique ce que nous aurons perçu.

Armand Veilleux

July 15, 2025, Tuesday of the 15th week, odd year

Ex 2:1-15; Mt 11:20-24

Homily

          The texts of this Eucharist speak to us of weakness and power – the weakness of men and the power of God. In the first reading, taken from the Book of Exodus, we see the weakness of the Jewish people within the Egyptian empire, in particular the weakness of Moses as a baby placed in a basket on the waters of the Nile, and the power with which God will free His people from Egypt through the ministry of Moses.

          Jesus usually pronounces blessings, which we call ‘beatitudes’ (Blessed are the poor, blessed are the meek, blessed are the peacemakers, etc.). In the short Gospel text we have just heard, Jesus pronounces not blessings but curses: "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida... etc.) What attitude provokes such a reaction in Jesus? It is blindness, and more precisely, voluntary blindness, which refuses to see what is obvious.

          These are two cities in Galilee where Jesus had performed many miracles and healings. The people of the city obviously benefited from these miracles and healings, but they did not receive Jesus' message calling for conversion. This is because they did not know how to interpret what was happening. They should have recognized that the one who performed such signs came from God and that his Word should therefore be received as the Word of God. And if they did not analyse the events to understand their meaning, it was probably because they did not feel capable of accepting the consequences.

          God also speaks to us through people and events. Often we prefer not to listen for fear of hearing a message that disturbs us too much. Obviously, if an angel from heaven appeared to us to reveal God's will for us, we would listen and obey. But God usually speaks to us through everyday events. If we often fail to make the effort to analyze and interpret these events, it is probably because we perceive, more or less unconsciously, that they may contain a message that is too disturbing for us. What we lack most of the time is not faith; it is the courage to make the conversion required by our faith.

          Let us ask for the grace of listening and discernment, and the courage to put into practice what we have perceived.

Armand Veilleux

14 juillet 2025 – Lundi de la 15^ème semaine

Ex 1, 8-14.22; Mt 10, 34--11, 1 

H O M É L I E

          Cet Évangile est un peu déroutant – comme l’Évangile l’est souvent. La dernière partie, sur l’accueil de l’autre, et en particulier l’accueil du messager du Christ, est rassurante et facile à comprendre. La partie centrale du texte, cependant, affirmant « Celui qui aime son père ou sa mère plus que moi » n’est pas digne de moi » est plus difficile à comprendre. C’est comme s’il y avait une compétition entre les deux amours. Ce n’est pourtant pas conforme à l’image de Dieu que Jésus nous donne d’habitude.

14 July 2025 – Monday of the 15th week

Ex 1:8-14, 22; Mt 10:34–11:1

H O M E L Y

          This Gospel is a little confusing – as the Gospel often is. The last part, about welcoming others, and in particular welcoming Christ's messenger, is reassuring and easy to understand. The central part of the text, however, stating that ‘He who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me’ is more difficult to understand. It is as if there were a competition between the two loves. Yet this is not consistent with the image of God that Jesus usually gives us.

          The whole passage is preceded by a first part in which Jesus says: ‘Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth... I have come to separate a man from his father, a daughter from her mother... a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.’ This is certainly not an easy text either, but its meaning is clear. The meaning is that the peace that Jesus came to bring to the world is not ‘peace at any price.’ It is not peace ‘as the world gives it.’ It is not peace that consists of compromise with the established order, even when that established order is made up of injustice and oppression of the weakest and smallest. It is not the peace proclaimed by false prophets who desire only to be accepted and honoured, but rather the peace proclaimed by true prophets, a peace that is the fruit of the restoration of a just order, and which is echoed in the Magnificat: "He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly... He fills the hungry with good things, and sends the rich away empty-handed."

          Anyone who has chosen to serve God and not Mammon – anyone who has chosen to live according to the precepts of the Gospel and to accept all the consequences – can expect that in certain circumstances this choice will put him at odds with those around him and sometimes even with hisr closest relatives, including his parents or children. This is where Jesus' words come in: ‘If anyone loves his father or mother more than me, he is not worthy of me.’ Apart from this situation of conflict and forced choice between the Gospel and its opposite, it is obvious that there can be no opposition or even tension between the love of God and the love of parents—the latter being in fact only an expression of the former.

The Son of God gave Himself entirely to His mission. According to the Letter to the Philippians (ch. 2), He did not want to ‘cling’ to His equality with God; He emptied Himself; He renounced all His rights to become one of us; and that is why the Father exalted Him... So it is for us, Jesus tells us. Those who want to keep their lives, that is, those who cling to their lives as private property and are completely withdrawn into themselves, have already lost their lives, because their lives are now empty of meaning. But whoever accepts the cross, who accepts to live the conflicts that arise from fidelity to the Gospel, who accepts to conform his life to the Gospel even if it means choosing between Jesus and his loved ones, that person already possesses life in its fullness – even if, in some cases, it may lead to physical death.

          To those who followed Him in this spirit, to His Apostles, Jesus gave the affectionate name of ‘little ones.’ It is of them that He speaks when He says that whoever gives even a simple glass of water to ‘one of these little ones’ will not lose his reward. That person, says Jesus, will have the reward of a prophet. The expression ‘a prophet's reward’ does not mean the reward that befits a prophet, but rather the reward that one receives from a prophet—a true prophet like Elisha—who brings life wherever He goes. Just as ‘a righteous man's reward’ means the reward that one receives from a righteous man.

          This Gospel is very demanding. It calls us to hospitality, to welcoming others, especially the little ones, but also to ‘orderly’ hospitality, where we know how to establish an order of importance and choose Christ whenever circumstances or people force us to choose between Him and something else or Him and other people, even if it means taking up the cross, that is, even if it means entering into full possession of life by losing it.

Armand Veilleux

Le 13 juillet 2025 – 15^ème dimanche ordinaire "C"

Dt 30, 10-14; Col 1, 15-20; Lc 10, 25-37 

H O M É L I E

          La première lecture que nous avons entendue était tirée du livre du Deutéronome, qui, de tous les livres de l'Ancien Testament, est le plus juridique. Et pourtant le message que nous avons entendu était une merveilleuse introduction à l'enseignement de l'Évangile. Ce texte nous disait que la Loi de Dieu ne peut pas être réduite à une série de règlements, mais est une loi d'amour, écrite sur nos coeurs. Si nous écoutons cette loi d'amour que Dieu a écrite sur nos coeurs, tous les autres préceptes de l'Évangile ou de l'Église prendront leur vrai sens. Si nous ne le faisons pas, ils demeureront un amoncellement de textes morts.